Poll: Americans Split on Mixing Faith and Politics
Americans are about evenly split over whether their religious faith influences their views on political issues, according to a new poll conducted by Barna Group for the American Bible Society.
When asked, "how much would you say your faith influences your views on political issues," a little more than half of the sample (53 percent) answered "a great deal" (27 percent) or "somewhat" (26 percent). A little less than half (45 percent) answered "a little" (14 percent) or "not at all" (31 percent).
The youngest age group, 18- to 27-year-olds, were the most likely to say "not at all" (37 percent). Those aged 47 to 65 were the most likely to answer "a great deal" (33 percent).
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The survey suggests that Americans are also about equally divided over whether the Bible and politics mix and whether they would be "more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who consistently uses the Bible for guidance in both personal and public decisions."
Forty-nine percent agreed and 45 percent disagreed with the statement, "the Bible and politics do not mix."
About the same split occurred with the question about voting for a presidential candidate that uses the Bible for guidance. Forty-nine percent said they would be more likely to vote for such a candidate, 46 percent said they would not be more likely to vote for such a candidate.
Thirty-three percent of respondents said they would vote for a candidate that does not believe in God, while 59 percent said they would not.
In recent interviews with Cathedral Age, both of the major party's presidential candidates, President Barack Obama, a Protestant Christian, and Mitt Romney, a Latter-day Saint, spoke about how their faith influences their lives and recounted their favorite Bible verses. Obama said he receives a daily devotional with Bible verses or writings from Christian authors.
The survey of 1,016 adults was conducted Feb. 24 through March 5. The sampling error was not reported.
